Why Sequenom Shares Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Sequenom (Nasdaq: SQNM) , a biotechnology company focused on delivering products and services that aid in genetic analysis and research, spiked 10% earlier in the trading session after reporting its first-quarter earnings results.

So what: There's nothing quite like a biotech earnings report to completely confuse investors. Sequenom's earnings report this morning highlighted a 10% increase in sales to $14.9 million, with a net loss of $0.22 per share. Both of these results actually missed Wall Street's expectations for revenue of $16.5 million and a smaller loss of just $0.19 per share. Sequenom noted a 187% increase in its diagnostic services as the reason its sales rose by 10%, but pointed to rising costs as the reason for the widening loss.

Now what: Like I said, confusing! Today's reaction by shareholders seems to be in response to the good reception Sequenom has seen thus far for its new diagnostic products. While I agree with investor sentiment that this is good, I'm not quite sure how to correlate that to today's large move upward. I believe Sequenom has potential, but I can think of better areas for my money than a company that has continuously lost money throughout the years. Until Sequenom can turn a profit, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

Craving more input? Start by add Sequenom to your free and personalized watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.

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EXAS is a POS (no pun intended), they wont be in the market for years... and then when they TRY to establish themselves, thousands upon thousands of GI docs (who make a living doing the more accurate colonsocopy that the low-accuracy test cologuard seeks to replace), will SCOFF at replacing what they do with a stool screen.

Its all about the money, and the docs will not give it up even IF it were more accurate than a scope (which it isn't).

EXAS is a biotech just begging for a short attack, and it WILL happen, and the company will be decimated and go Chap 11, or they will need death-spiral dilutive financing LONG before shareholders EVER see a micro-penny of return.

And by the way, I actually have exas in my picks as a speculative play, despite my long-term bearish view. I think there are enough fools out there who will believe in enough in this one-trick-lame-pony to drive the price up so I can end my pick in the green before it dumps.

btw, i have made money on sqnm... had it as a short for 2 years and didnt go long until maternit21 launched

didnt find out about exas until i went long sqnm. only learned about exas because so many exas longs were over at the sqnm board trashing sqnm... did my dd on exas, and it is what it is, A LONG TERM LOSER GOING TO CHAPTER 11... but i like to play stocks long, so i have no real world bets on exas even though it is obviously going to YOU (i mean ZERO, like you )

Here's a good joke... the same people who don't want to have a colonscopy are going to be willing to retrieve a well-formed-solid-stool from the toilet, maybe even put it on a dinner plate and freeze, and then package it and bring it carefully to the lab for CROSS SECTION COLOGUARD STUDIES!

This is no hemoccult smear, throw in an envelope, and send off to the lab at ambient temps we're talking about here... I'd rather have the scope for God's sake!

Unknownuser, I've already had this bet with many sqnm "investors" and clearly won big. WITH REAL $.

The "game" has been played and sqnm lost by committing fraud. Exas won with much better management, the backing research of the famed Mayo Clinic and the sense to go through the FDA. To market next year with FULL backing by Doc's, Insurance companies and the U S Government. There is no digging in the toilet or driving to a lab. All done simply through the mail. ColoGuard is much more accurate then a scope that misses many right sided lesions.

You're no longer worth my time as you're so uninformed it's comical. Try getting at least ONE fact correct before mouthing off about something you know nothing about.

The opposite of everything you say is the truth. It's sad to see people like you in this world. Have fun trashing EXAS on their message board with all of your multiple aliases. It wont help you.